New head of IR at BHP Billiton

Following the promotion of head of IR and former Macquarie analyst Brendan Harris to the position of CFO-elect for South32, BHP Billiton’s proposed spin-off, the firm has announced another analyst from the same bank is to succeed him.  

Adrian Wood, division director and lead analyst for the mining and energy sectors at the Australian investment bank, will be joining BHP Billiton as the new head of IR on February 18, relocating from Sydney to the company’s headquarters in Melbourne.

Prior to his time at Macquarie, Wood was with UBS in London, serving in senior roles including director for European oil & gas equity research and associate director within the European equities trading division.

Welcoming the new IRO in a press release, CFO Peter Beaven says: ‘Adrian has built a successful career in equities research both in Australia and abroad, and is considered a leader in his field across the mining & metals and energy industries. He brings global experience and expertise to the investor relations function particularly in commodities, oil & gas production and exploration, and we welcome him to the BHP Billiton team.’

The world’s largest mining firm by revenue announced in August last year it would be restructuring its business. The proposed demerger, which aims at ‘unlocking shareholder value’ by spinning off non-core assets, would see the firm separate into a ‘simplified BHP Billiton and a new, independent global metals and mining company’ called South32, in reference to the location of its assets in the southern hemisphere.

With a capitalization of $15 bn, the new entity should be listed on the Australian Securities Exchange with a secondary listing in Johannesburg as well as a standard listing in London, pending shareholder approval in May.